


i know you care

by lady_wonder



Series: Mass Effect Music Drabbles [2]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Asari Characters, Biotics, Canonical Character Death, Drabble, Drabble Collection, F/F, Grief/Mourning, Mass Effect 3, Mass Effect 3: Omega, Minor Violence, Misuse of Biotics, Post-Break Up, Post-Mass Effect 3, Song Lyrics, Turians, Unresolved Emotional Tension, Unresolved Romantic Tension, Women In Power
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-27
Updated: 2016-10-27
Packaged: 2018-08-27 07:50:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8393302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lady_wonder/pseuds/lady_wonder
Summary: 'cause i know you careand i know you care- Ellie GouldingAria T'Loak is the queen of Omega.  She should not care about anything else.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Part of a music prompt challenge--get some lyrics, write a drabble, hijinks ensue.

 

 _'cause this is how things ought to have been_  
_and i know the worst of it wasn't all that it seemed_  
_why can't i dream, why can't i dream_

  
_yeah, i know you care_  
_i see it in the way you stare_  
_as if there was trouble ahead and you knew it_  
_i'll be saving myself from the ruin_  
_and i know you care_

 

* * *

 

_i am Alpha and Omega_

Aria closes the door behind her and breathes--finally. For the first time in hours, she exhales. Her chest remains locked, but not as tightly as before; she slowly unfurls her fingers from their iron clench. She knows nothing of relaxation--she hasn't known how to relax, truly relax, in a very long time--but a sense of stability has finally returned. Her empire is hers again: _Omega_.

Through the window of her place above Afterlife streams the familiar curves and colors of dancing asari, playing out on the giant screens around the club once again. Music pulsates, leaving tremors in its wake; the clatter and clink of alcohol rings distantly, in celebration, in triumph. Sometimes a gun fires--her citizens taking their rightful revenge on whatever is left of Cerberus--but everything is already fitting back into place. There is so much left still to do, but for now, she crosses her arms and leans against her door, watching the electronic bodies move and arc before her.

 _Omega_. She allows a smile, small. _I am Omega_.

When she pushes forward, the mirror catches her off guard.

It's not because it's broken--the damn thing has been broken for ages now, glass shards barely hanging on to its mount from where it sits on the wall. A few bits have trickled off from the mess her station has been put through, pooling on the floor beneath it, yet still it hangs. It is stubbornly dormant; it is meaningless but still doesn't mean enough for her to take it down or, better yet, order someone to take it down for her.

But it does catch her, every single time. Each split piece captures her presence and displays each jagged angle as she walks toward it. One cut slices through her left eye; one blank space removes part of her chin; another shard trembles onto whatever force keeps it up, flickering some of her neck into view, before losing the last inch of its life and collapsing to the floor. It falls at her feet: "What a piece of shit." She has half the thought of trashing the damn thing right then and there, but--

Her eyes close--finally. For the first time in months, she remembers.

_"Spirits damn you, Aria!"_

_The venom on each word is hot and biting, resounding with a crash as a biotic force punches the mirror. It's a good attack, but meek in result--the glass fractures but only a few bits splinter away, collecting on the floor like the chuckle in Aria's mouth._

_"You can't even get angry without being a coward." She leans back against the pillows, sheets barely covering her naked skin, and stares up at where Nyreen stands at the foot of the bed. "If you're going to get mad at me, just get mad at me. Quit hesitating."_

_The look Nyreen gives her issues a challenge. "You want me not to hesitate?"_

_Aria smirks, accepting. "I dare you to make a decision and not go back on it."_

_Silence. Then: "Fine."_

_When Nyreen opens the door to leave, Aria can't help to bark, "I'll see you tomorrow night, babe." The door slams shut in response._

_She never comes back._

Aria's eyes flare open. She is shaking; her biotics envelope her, shivering electricity through her skin, ready to explode. She thrusts toward the closest thing--she hated Nyreen, hated, hated, _hated_ her, _fuck_ her, fuck her and her plight, her _purity_ , her selfish and stupid need to prove herself by _dying_ \--and meets the broken mirror with a cry.

The glass shatters entirely this time. Every piece ruptures and ricochets, recoiling so hard that shards slice past her face. Then the mount descends to the ground with a dull thud, before the wall it sat on reacts just enough to create a small series of fissures, tearing through the mold from the attack.

As her body boils back to normal, she watches the impact vein into life--like flesh splitting from a wound, cut deep and oozing over. Though the mirror is destroyed, there still seems to be a reflection of something in front of her.

What had she once said? _I run roughshod over most people, and if the tracks I leave aren't deadly, they're at least permanent_. Well… this was certainly permanent.

Her omni-tool lights up: "Aria, you're needed on the floor."

Slowly, she inhales. "All right."

She turns to go manage her kingdom and leaves the cracks in the wall, where they shall stay, until they catch her again.

_the beginning and the end_


End file.
